When Barack Met Michelle: Tika Sumpter on Playing the First Lady in Southside With You

The story of Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson has all the trappings of a classic rom-com: In the summer of 1989, Obama, then a summer associate at Chicago law firm Sidley Austin, took Robinson, a second-year associate, to see Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. On the same date, the president has recalled, “I treated her to the finest ice cream Baskin-Robbins had to offer . . . I kissed her, and it tasted like chocolate.” The rest is literally American history.

Hollywood would have been remiss not to make a movie about this, and so it did: Southside With You premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival and quickly landed on many “films to watch” lists and earned comparisons to other beloved movies like When Harry Met Sally . . . and Before Sunrise. Robinson and Obama’s date conversation has it all, including debates about race in corporate America and the merits of pie vs. ice cream. Tika Sumpter, whose credits include the Ride Along films and Gossip Girl, stars as Michelle, and distinguished newcomer Parker Sawyers plays Barack. Vogue.com spoke to Sumpter about the lack of African-American love stories on-screen and the quiet, “classy” sex appeal of the Obamas’ first date.

You were cast early on and became a producer on Southside With You. Why were you so passionate about it?I was intrigued by the story. Nobody’s ever really seen this side of them. It’s a love story, so I think anybody can relate, but we don’t really see a lot of African-American love stories.

Why aren’t we seeing more African-American romances on-screen?It starts with the studios being able to green-light movies like this. Obviously, it comes down to money, and they want their money back. People have been going out and supporting so many movies—especially recently—with leads who are African-American. I don’t know what the problem is, but I’m hoping to be part of the change.

Southside With You premiered at Sundance this week. Was there a standout moment for you?I heard a lot of sniffling in the first screening. I thought, “Oh, my God, are they getting antsy? What’s happening?” They were wiping away tears. It shook me, and I just knew we did the right thing. The great thing about Sundance is you get to see audience reaction. Richard [Tanne, the film’s director] got a standing ovation. It didn’t matter what color you were, or if you were a woman or a man, people were really into it.

How did you prepare to play young Michelle Obama—and how do you do it without impersonating her?Exactly. I never wanted to impersonate her. It would be a lot of pressure to play the First Lady right now; I love that they’re stripped down to two people at the beginning of their careers. The book that helped me the most was her brother Craig Robinson’s book, A Game of Character. My father passed away when I was younger; that was a relatable moment for me. I watched YouTube videos of her. When something really touches her, she puts her hand on her heart. She’s very bold. There was this one moment I saw on YouTube, she was at an event speaking to women and somebody said something out of turn. She said, “I don’t do this well. I don’t do this well, okay? I will leave if y’all want to do all this.” She was like, You’re not going to disrespect me.

What intrigues you most about the Obamas as a couple?I’m fascinated that they are so publicly intimate—whether it’s holding hands, fixing a bow tie, doing the fist bumps. It’s so nice to see the leaders of the free world showing love to each other, also, the fact that these two people became who they are, regardless of circumstance. [In] 1989, she was working at a place where she was surrounded by mostly men, and white men, and she was so confident in herself.

The film is being compared to Before Sunrise. Do you agree with that comparison?I love it. People are like, “Are you going to have a trilogy?” I’m like, “No, I think we just wanted to take this one moment in time and explore that.” Because if we tried to do [a trilogy], we’d basically be chasing history, and we don’t really want to do that.

Why not?They’re still so young. We don’t even know what they’re going to do next.

Do you think the Obamas will see it—and what do you hope they’ll think of it if they do?I want them to know that it was done with love and respect and not exploiting them or anything like that. I just hope that they look at each other with more googly eyes and remember it all again. I hope they realize that they feel the love and they feel the intelligence and they feel the vulnerability and the complexity of these two beautiful human beings that they are and that they started out being.

Writer Logan Hill pointed out that this film could be awkward for Sasha and Malia . . .I think it could be really cool! If they see it, it’s nothing for them to be embarrassed about because it’s such a sweet, loving story. It shows their father chasing after their mother and her not giving in right away and them challenging each other. It would just, hopefully, validate what they think of their parents, which is that they’re bomb.

True, there are no Obama sex scenes. That could have been awkward.None at all. But people keep saying there’s a sexiness to it—a classy sexy. You know, they go to Baskin-Robbins, and I don’t want to give away too much . . . People are like, “There’s this real quiet sexiness to it.” People were swooning, like, “I want my boyfriend to do that.”